I believe in karma-of all kinds including and not limited to strange things such as karma of lifts. For not having a license for several decades means that I have gotten several lifts over the years and I probably owe the universe several thousand. So when I was confirming plans to meet with Laura at Janani she mentioned that she didn’t have her car. I offered to pick her up and drive her there in Purdie the Prius.
Slowly I fought my way through peak hour city traffic where I tried to find the lane markings which were slick and glistening with what looked like oil. We finally made it to Janani with a combination of the GPS and Laura’s instructions and fell upon it gratefully.
Laura is a regular here and she and her friend NQN reader Maddie have been going here for years so she gets a warm greeting when we enter. “I always order the same thing so let’s order weird things tonight and let’s order lots of food!” she says eagerly. We peruse the plastic coated pages and start at the drinks. The two owners, a husband and wife team are here 7 days a week and the wife answers any questions we have about the menu items.
Faludha $6 on left and Butter milk on right $3.50
The closest description of the faludha is a thick, rose scented milkshake drink with scoops of kulfi ice cream and faludha seeds. It’s is sweet, thick and delicious without being too overpowering with rose. In contrast is the butter milk-not buttermilk, the by product of butter making, but an entirely different entity. Here they blend coriander, curry leaves, cumin seeds and ginger with milk and serve it cold. It’s unusual and definitely savoury and your brain, especially after having the faludha thinks “No” but when yo think of it like a cold soup like a gazpacho through a straw then it tastes better. It’s kind of like the first time I tried a salty lassi or ayran. Now I love them both but the first time I didn’t.
Ginger Milk tea $3.50
“That’s three drinks right?” she asks us and we both nod. I always love going out to dinner with people that love to sample a lot. The ginger milk tea is my favourite of the drinks, not just for it’s warming properties on this cold and wet night but once I add a couple of teaspoons of sugar it gives a bit of spicy, milky sweetness that is like a little hug.
Chicken 65 $8
“Don’t ask me what Chicken 65 means” the wife says to us laughing. “What does it mean?” we ask. They say that it is called that because it has been made since 1965. The dish is made up of tender pieces of chicken marinated in what looks like a spicy yogurt marinade and grilled until juicy and charred on the edges. It’s similar to a Tandoori chicken in smaller, bite sized pieces.
Hopper: coconut milk and jaggery $3.50
You don’t often see hoppers on the menu at many Indian restaurants as they’re a South Indian and Sri Lankan street food and I was intrigued to try the bowl shaped pancakes made with special hopper pans. Made with coconut milk and rice flour and eggs this one is covered with a thick coconut cream that isn’t sweetened like we expected. It’s mild tasting and almost plain but then I preferred this with some of the chicken 65.
Hopper: egg $3
The egg hopper is fancier and comes with a soft yolk egg in the centre and a sambal mix made with spicy grated coconut. The wife explains how to eat it and that is to tear off a piece from the rim and dip it into the egg yolk and pick up some sambal with it too before popping it into the mouth.
Chicken biryani $10
A huge dish for a mere $10 we marvel at the prices here. The wife who makes the biryani tells us biryani is where the real skills lie. They make it on alternate days and use 10 kilos of meat and 10 kilos of rice. It’s a careful balance of rice and curry as it is layered rice then curry then rice then curry and so on and they need to put in the right amount-too little and that’s no good as there is too much curry and the rice goes soggy. She tells us that every time she makes it it is like a surprise to see how it has turned out. The biryani, and ours is with a large piece of breast meat, is wonderfully seasoned and the texture of the rice is perfect. There’s extra curry sauce and yogurt as well as pickles on the side. I actually like the coconut string hopper with this.
Crab curry $12
To be honest we didn’t expect much when paying $12 for a crab curry but it is surprisingly good. The crab is not so much the star as is the sauce which is rich and bursting with flavours and spices. In fact some of the crab claws haven’t been cracked so we don’t risk splattering a newly dry cleaned dress and take some home for us. Oh and yes you will have leftovers when you order as much as we do… 
North Indian Thali $12
Another huge dish this was a vegetarian dish made up of four vegetable curries, rice, roti and a sweet dessert-a meal in one. And because Laura is a regular she knows that there are two kitchens, and the kitchen that makes the best roti out of the two is the one that makes the thali so she always orders this to get the better roti. There is a dahl soup, an aromatic pea curry, an eggplant curry and a lentil curry and they change on every given day. They’re all good but the pick is definitely the creamy eggplant. The roti is buttery and soft and the sweet soup is a saffron based milk dessert with vermicelli noodles in it.
“Oh no, we’ve got two more dishes coming? We have to tell them to stop!” Lura says. We’re full and we realise that we’ve ordered too much. “No matter” the wife says to Laura “I know your limits”.
Dessert plate (sorry I don’t remember the price) from left to right: Gulab jamen, vattilappam and yogurt treacle dessert
But of course there is always room for dessert! We are undecided so the wife tells us that she will put together a plate of the three desserts for us. The vattilappam is like a steamed, moist pudding cake sweetened with the distinctive molassesy taste of jaggery sugar. The yogurt treacle dessert, looking so much like a soft boiled egg is refreshing with the syrup and would be wonderful on a hot day (although it is a cold evening and still goes down well). The gulab jamen, those sweet, milk and nut based small balls soaked in syrup are so irresistible.
We’re stuffed to the gills and have three takeaway boxes to take with us (waste not!) ”I’m going to have a food baby” Laura says patting her tummy. “It’s going to be called Janani” she says laughing.
So tell me Dear Reader, do you ask for your food to take away with you? And do you ever order more so you get leftovers?
Janani
32 Burlington Rd, Homebush, NSW
Tel: +61 (02) 9763 2306
Open 7 days
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36 Comments | Add your own
I don’t eat Indian food much but I’d love to dry the ginger tea and Indian dessert hehe
And Mr Bao and I love left overs, we always order so much (cuz i like variety) lol I love having leftovers for lunch the next day!
Amazing prices plus it seems good quality and good service. Thats a good find. I always take away food, in my stomach:)
This place has always been such a bargain! It’s nice to see that the new owners are keeping things going the way they always were. Adore the eggplant curry!
Hi Lorraine, for ourselves we have never had leftovers to take away. I suspect hubby and I are rather greedy and eat too much ! Also we have both been brought up to finish everything on our plate, not sure it’s such a good thing…. X
I can’t believe the prices! It pays to travel a little deeper into suburbia sometimes doesn’t it?
I never take food home, I rarely leave anything on my plate. My mother taught me well. I would love to try the hopper.
ooo how very delicious indeed!
Sadly a lot of places around here wont let you take the leftovers with you….health department rules?
Yummy. I love Indian food and this post struck a chord. The crab curry, the faludha (how good does that sound–I love rose flavoring), the biryani, the thali. Just yum, yum, yum. Indian comfort food, yes!
Wow, I think any one of those dishes would have been enough but so glad you sampled so many, it is definitely different to what’s available where I live! And yes, if the food is great, I will order extra to take home!
The hopper remind me of serabi, a sweet dish from my hometown, only in the centre it is the soft silky sweet coconut milk mixed with rice flour.
The google picture is on http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jI1Jfbg7pbg/Tf3jdJvoNkI/AAAAAAAACXg/_zij41PZazs/s1600/serabi-solo.jpg
By the way, the crab curry seem look like an empty clean plate?
Oh, the crab picture is above the rice plate, sorry.
Just to clarify, hoppers are not necessarily a street food as you will find that they are often eaten for breakfast or dinner at a SriLankan home. Also, it is a native of Sri Lanka and not India.
I would love to eat here on an informal basis! The place looks pleasant inside and the food ‘real’ and interesting, and I have always had a weakness for thali service
! Have quite a few thali serving dishes myself and oft take all the bits and pieces of a SE Asian meal oudoors for lunch. Like the look of the chicken biryani especially. Have never over-ordered on purpose and used to refuse the ‘doggy bag’ in olden days [I really thought the food was meaant to be for one's animals 
!] when too much appeared. These days I would not hesitate to say: ‘This was so delicious I want the rest for breakfast tomorrow’! If I really liked a dish, would not be above ordering a second helping whilst I was eating and asking for it to be packed up for when we left.
The food looks so interesting! They’re not regular food I order at Indian restaurants.
I would always take away any left overs if the restaurant lets us..I dislike wasting food and I LOVE ordering a lot
I love Indian feasts. All the different flavors and heats and textures… it is a delight and the doggy bag an enormous gift the following day. Most Indian food is even better the next day.
Lovely tour… and the couple that runs it are charming… these small places have so much heart.
Loving the peacock tapestry and all of the food. I never want leftovers.
Mm, I love chicken biryani – that looks great. And that ginger tea sounds great, too.
Yum! We were confused the first time we went to the US when everyone offered to box our leftovers – and there were always leftovers! – But soon worked it out.
Holy yum! Everything looks so drool-worthy. I am a sucker for briyani’s
For some reason I don’t usually take home leftovers. Probably because I’m very good at clearing the plate!
I love the plates with all the compartments, especially as they all contain something different! I usually order to much on purpose for leftovers, but then have to exercise great self control to make sure there really are leftover leftovers:)
Oh that place looks wonderful and I can’t believe the prices. I have been known to order extras for leftovers. Mainly because when I don’t have the kids I live by myself, and it means I don’t have to cook the next night and I can greedily enjoy more of that delicious food at home. Usually for much less than I could cook it from scratch for myself. (That’s when it’s well-priced as it is above). But like many others, I’m finding some restaurants won’t allow you to take it home any more, citing health regulations. Others will let you, but will give you a takeaway container. (Sometimes you have to pay a small charge which I guess I’m kind of okay with), and you have to put the leftovers in yourself. I do feel when you’ve paid for the food you should be able to take it home, and should not be able to sue the restaurant later. My Dad always takes home leftover meat (steak, chicken etc) which he chops up for his spoilt dog. He’s a pensioner, he’s paid for the food, the restaurant is only going to throw it away, why not?
What a great meal! I love going out for indian food but am always afraid to venture from the “butter chicken and naan” combo. If I’m feeling adventurous, I’ll try the chicken Korma. The chicken 65 looks really interesting and I would love to try those hoppers though!
–I love love love Indian food. It is probably my all time Fave.
The “North Indian Thali” platter looks outstanding… WOWwwwww.
Xx Kiss.
Just another reason why you’re amazing and I’m glad to have you as a friend: you understand the karma of lifts. As someone who got her licence long, long before the majority of my friends, I was the frequent lift-giver and designated driver. It always meant *so* much when someone was considerate enough to return to favour when they had their licence!
We ate there tonight after reading this. Meal was pretty good – entrees were a little ho-hum. Actually, they were far from the nicest entrees I’ve had. Service was also very poor. BUT the food was excellent. Very VERY nice. The dry banana curry was AMAZING and the price was great – 4 adults, 4 mains, entrees, fizzy drinks, a round of coffee/ginger tea and one desert was only $88
AHAHAHA.. we are so similar in dining. We always order far too much! (Hence my new diet) but yes we do take-away and have it for lunch the next day! I love dining on good leftovers
OK this looks good I will have to try and traverse the roads less travelled and get out there for some decent Indian
Oh, I’m the same. My eyes are ALWAYS bigger than my stomach!
Sometimes, I do order more so I can have them more tomorrow breakfast hehe.
I love the look of those hopper pancakes – they are so delicate, almost like lace at the edges. I hardly ever get takeaway nowadays but when I do my eyes are often bigger than my stomach
There are much better Indian restaurants in Homebush than Janani, try Thousand Spices a few blocks over, opposite the train station.
At Janani, unless you’re a regular you’re usually treated like dirt. Which is appropriate given the cleanliness (or lackof!) in the restaurant. I’d hate to see the state of the kitchen
what a feast! i love indian food but i have not had any this year because ive been trying to lose weight haha..
I love Indian food & trying new dishes. The chicken especially looks delicious but the thali would be my pick so I could try as much as possible
I have definitely been known to order too much accidentally on purpose so I get two meals of deliciousness
The Indian food that I know is a little bit different from the food shown in these pictures here, but I can’t eat spicy food so I rarely know Indian cuisine much. My husband on the other hand is crazy about spicy food, so he totally misses eating Indian food. He’ll cry if the crab curry is served in front of him.. hehee.
Iv been dying to try hoppers since seeing them on Food Safari
thanks for the eating tip 
haha
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